The Louisiana Purchase and the Origins of the Sovereign Bond Market

Most of us learn the story of the Louisiana Purchase as one where the key players were the political leaders, namely, Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte. While they were undoubtedly key, economic historian Larry Neal suggests that this transaction would probably never have occurred but for the financial creativity of a set of largely unknown bankers in London and Amsterdam who, along the way, set the foundations for the modern international sovereign bond market.

Producer: Leanna Doty